


So Darkness I Became

by TomKat



Series: Be careful making wishes in the dark [2]
Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball, Neverwhere - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Implied Murder, Implied Violence, Kuroko is terrifying, Minor Character Death, Non-Graphic Descriptions of Violence, Non-graphic Murder, Shadow with a capital S, implied eldrich abomination
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-12
Updated: 2013-10-12
Packaged: 2017-12-29 05:01:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 695
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1001186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TomKat/pseuds/TomKat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kuroko Tetsuya- an origin story</p><p>A.K.A the one where Shadow is literal.</p>
            </blockquote>





	So Darkness I Became

**Author's Note:**

> Knowledge of "Neverwhere" not required

\- 1. Darkness

Kuroko Tetsuya is a Shadow. The capital letter oft goes unnoticed, but it changes the whole phrase. It feels like a metaphor, one long forgotten. He likes that.

\- 2. Gone

The thing about Below is that everything there was once abandoned or forgotten or lost. Even the people.

\- 3. Unseen

The Kuroko family are nobles Below, rich and powerful. Unlike the other houses, they are mostly unknown.

Of course, this changes when people have need of their services.

\- 4. Newborn

When Tetsuya was born, a solid shadow nearly killed a midwife.

His parents smiled, utterly normal and bland, and showed the newborn how to do it properly.

\- 5. Terms

Promises and deals. Their service has a price and if you betray them or turn on them the consequences will be dire. The underworld is controlled through the shadows and that of Below, where sunlight never hits? - The Shadows are much, much darker.

\- 6. Soulmates

Mrs Kuroko was from Above, once. She found her way in through an abandoned train tunnel and getting horribly lost in the maze that is the city of Tokyo Below. She survived by herself for five years, fending for herself and managing to stay alive. Her husband fell in love when he felt the knife at his throat.

\- 7. Buisness

The floating market always has a stall for them, but a lot of people walk straight past it. Only the desperate, the ones who _need_ it more than they know, find them. The price is high, but most find it worth it. Even if they don't, they still pay. They all pay, eventually. 

\- 8. Encounter

The Kuroko family is odd in that they can walk Above and Below and be utterly nodescript unless a person has learned what to look for. They are the most normal family you will ever meet, they pass beneath everyone's notice. They could stick a knife in your back and you'd only notice a few streets later, when most of your blood is on the pavement and your eyesight has gone blurry.

\- 9. Location

Tetsuya grows up half Above and half Below as his heritage dictates. He learns it is not normal for children to be left alone for weeks on end in the Above. He learns that those Above can't control their age or their shape or their shadow. He learns those Above can't hear the whispers of spirits and demons and the dead, that they can't even see them. He learns that Above people make deals but don't take them **seriously** , that they make a contract and don't know how binding it is. Above people will make a contract and not know what it _means_. Tetsuya forgets this sometimes.

\- 10. Fragility

Below, everything is less breakable. Children play in areas filled with radiation and mines. They delight in swordfighting with broken bits of iron fence, cutting and making each other bleed. Some don't even have blood as such. Tetsuya finds it refreshing when he returns home from Above.

\- 11. Childhood

Tetsuya makes friends with a boy named Ogiwara. He has dark hair and a wide smile. His parents are doctors and he likes to hug Tetsuya. He introduces him to basketball. It's different from the games Tetsuya is used to, but he finds he quite likes it.

\- 12. Rules

His parents warn him to be careful who he deals with, to be sure to receive the correct payment, to be terrifying and yet utterly forgettable. They teach him to write calligraphy into contracts, to rip people into shreds, to make his words as dangerous and as reliable as knives. He is a natural.

\- 13. Closer

Later he learns Ogiwara has a passion for dissection and cutting and a flexible morality. He could never have picked a better friend.

\- 14. Conflict

The generation of miracles, however, is a different story.

\- 15. Resolution

_They are oath breakers. They will be dealt with. / They are his friends. He will help them._

A Shadow's help is only for the desperate and comes at a high price, and an even steeper payment for betrayal.

\- 16. Darkness

Kuroko is a Shadow. And Shadows are where the monsters hide.

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted a story that was ominous and Kuroko was terrifying. I think I succeeded. This is in the same verse as "Please Do Not Adjust Your Set".


End file.
